Invest in Women in the Washington DC Metro Area

Sometimes your gifts to Washington Area Women’s Foundation help a woman discover and travel paths she’s never dreamed of. Step by step she learns new skills, gains confidence, and dares to paint herself into a new vision of the future.

But in the case of PreAnn Walker, your gifts are helping a young woman navigate a path she’s always dreamed of.

By third grade, PreAnn had a crystal clear idea of her future. She was going to Spelman College and she was going to become a doctor.  It has been a dream of hers for so long, that at the ripe old age of 20, she doesn’t even know how the seed was planted.

“I’ve just always known I was going there,” she says with a conviction that’s hard to argue with. After all, against ridiculously high odds, that’s exactly where she is. Enrolled at Spelman, taking Spanish courses this summer, making room for more classes in her major—Psychology—in her final two years.

And, of course, she’s working. Because that’s what she’s always done since she was 15.  KFC, McDonald’s, Safeway, Chick-Fil-A.  Not for pocket money like other girls her age, but for the stuff that keeps body and soul together—underwear, shoes, school supplies, meals. Necessities, not niceties.

Your support has helped hardworking, vulnerable young women like PreAnn realize their dreams.

In high school, PreAnn juggled two jobs while attending school full time, despite a precarious living situation. At age 11 she was removed from the custody of her mother who was suffering from schizophrenia, and became the ward of a twenty-something cousin. By high school, PreAnn was largely taking care of herself. On any given night, she cadged a bed/couch/space on the floor in one of several homes—staying in one place only long enough to not wear out her welcome, then moving on to the next, eventually circling back and starting the cycle again.  

“I carried a big purse,” she says with a laugh, “because I needed to keep a change of clothes in there.  I was never sure where I was going to sleep, so I was always prepared. When I got ready to move to Atlanta, I had to go to five or six different places to pick up my stuff because I had a little here and a little there.”

Always, she kept her eyes on the college prize—shrugging away sacrifices, and relentlessly pursuing every opportunity that got her closer to her goal. That’s where you came in!In her senior year, PreAnn seized the opportunity to participate in two programs that were the final stepping stones on her path to Spelman—Urban Alliance’s internship program and College Success Foundation’s DC Achievers Scholarship Program.  Thanks to generous donors like you, The Women’s Foundation funds both of these organizations whose programs provide tools and resources that change young people’s lives.

Your continued support is the fuel that keeps dreams alive for determined young women!

We got to know PreAnn, and the fierce determination that drives her, in the fall of 2011 when she became our Urban Alliance intern. One of the benefits of being an intern at The Women’s Foundation is you instantly acquire an entire cadre of mentors and cheerleaders. The day PreAnn received her acceptance from Spelman, the entire office celebrated with her, with high-fives, hugs, and not a dry eye in the office. A generous and well-deserved DC Achievers Scholarship cleared the final obstacle for PreAnn to finish the journey she had set for herself almost a dozen years before. We’re not sure she has stopped smiling since!

As many students prepare to head back to school, we know there are many other young women like PreAnn out there –ready to set forth on the path of their dreams with pure determination. At The Women’s Foundation, our goal is that no young woman will be left behind just because she was born in the wrong ZIP code or to parents with insufficient resources. Together, we can provide the tools that give each one a fighting chance.

With gratitude,

Jennifer Lockwood-Shabat

President